Wild Green Yonder: New Aircraft Orders an Environmental Play?

By

Keith Johnson

Jun 8, 2009 2:52 pm ET

United Airlines’ plan to spend as much as $10 billion on new jet aircraft sparked a wave of tea-leaf reading—is the order just a sign of recession-era bargain hunting, or true green shoots for the battered American economy?

But could United’s plan to buy as many as 150 big planes actually be an environmental play?

Fuel costs make or break the airline business. Just today, the International Air Transport Association doubled its forecast for global losses in the industry this year to $9 billion. And that’s with oil at about $50 a barrel, the FT notes. If crude oil goes where many analysts are now predicting—between $65 and $85 a barrel—then the airline business will be buffeted even more.

One big way around that? More fuel-efficient aircraft, which also means fewer emissions of greenhouse gases…